Three years after Connecticut abolished the death penalty for any future crimes, the state’s highest court on Thursday spared the lives of all 11 men who were already on death row when the law took effect, saying it would be unconstitutional to execute them.
The ruling comes in an appeal from Eduardo Santiago, whose attorneys had argued that any execution carried out after repeal would constitute cruel and unusual punishment. Santiago faced the possibility of lethal injection for a 2000 murder-for-hire killing.
The Connecticut supreme court, in a 4-3 ruling, agreed with his position.
The state had passed a law in April 2012 to repeal the death penalty only for future crimes.
Santiago’s attorneys had argued that it would be wrong for some people to face the death penalty while others face life in prison for similar murders.
Santiago was sentenced to lethal injection in 2005. But the state supreme court overturned the death sentence and ordered a new penalty phase in 2012, saying the trial judge wrongly withheld key evidence from the jury regarding the severe abuse Santiago suffered while growing up.
That ruling came just weeks after lawmakers passed the death penalty repeal.
Assistant public defender Mark Rademacher has argued that Connecticut had declared its opposition to the death penalty and it wouldn’t make sense to execute anybody now.
Senior assistant state’s attorney Harry Weller argued there were no constitutional problems with the new law.
Connecticut has had just one execution since 1960. Serial killer Michael Ross was put to death in 2005.
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